Dundalk ease to victory over sorry Sligo Rovers
DUNDALK SLIGO ROVERS 5 0
AS the champagne flowed and the celebrations began for the champions Dundalk, it was a totally different scenario for Sligo Rovers as they left Oriel Park on Friday with a 5-0 defeat, dejected and disillusioned.
The Bit O’Red were already safe coming into this game, and Dundalk were already crowned in champions, so in theory there was little to play for, but anyone who knows the Lilywhites knows that they don’t believe in taking their feet off the proverbial pedal.
Interim manager Brian Dorrian had to plan without the suspended Caolan McAleer, while David Cawley and Regan Donelon were only fit for the bench, with Raffaele Cretaro and Patrick McClean not involved at all. Gary Boylan remains sidelined with a long term injury.
It’s been a difficult week for Rovers, with manager Ger Lyttle departing earlier in the week after the club confirmed his contract would not be renewed for next season.
The evening was never going to be easy for the youthful Rovers squad, and Ed McGinty was called into action after just three minutes when John Mountney stung his palms with a shot from the right hand side.
With just five minutes on the clock, referee Rob Rogers pointed to the spot, unfortunately for Sligo Rovers, after Kyle Callan McFadden was adjudged to have tripped Patrick McEleney in the box, although the foul actually appeared to be outside the box.
Most would have put their house on Patrick Hoban giving his side the lead with the penalty, but an excellent save from Ed McGinty kept it scoreless, albeit only for a few minutes.
Stephen Kenny’s side had a goal disallowed just seconds later, it was obvious this was going to be a long night for the visitors at Oriel Park.
Eventually, the hosts broke the deadlock with ten minutes played. Ronan Murray’s glorious ball over the top was looped over the head of McGinty by John Mountney.
McGinty did well to prevent Dundalk from doubling their lead a couple of minutes later when he forced Michael Duffy’s deep cross out for a corner, before an excellent save seconds later from the Donegal native from Murray ensured the scoreline was still 1-0.
Jarvis, Duffy and Mountney came close, before Rovers eventually had an opportunity of their own, with Tubbercurry’s Liam Kerrigan smashes over from 25 yards.
Duffy made it 2-0 to the Louth men just after the half hour mark when he cut in from the left and slotted inside McGinty’s near post.
There were chances aplenty for Stephen Kenny’s men, but fortunately for Rovers they weren’t as clinical at this stage of the game, as everyone knows they can be.
The half-time interval could not have come quick enough for Rovers, but they were forced to pick the ball out of their own net once again before half-time when Mountney got his second of the game.
The Bohola man rose highest to meet s Jarvis cross, nodding past McGinty to give Dundalk a very comfortable 3-0 lead at the half way mark.
Hoban nodded wide just after the restart from McEleney’s cross, before he got on the end of a ball from Sean Gannon, which was well collected by McGinty.
It would have been 4-0 to Dundalk on 54 minutes if it wasn’t for a Kyle Callan-McFadden goal-line clearance from Pat Hoban’s shot.
Hoban made it 4-0 when he converted a penalty after Dylan Connolly was taken down by Niall Morahan, who was filling in at left-back as Adam Wixted went off injured.
Hoban’s 29th goal of the season on 65 minutes rubbed salt into the wounds for Sligo Rovers, and most feared what the scoreline would be for the remaining 25 minutes.
Dundalk continued to attack the Rovers rearguard, but much to Rovers’ relief that was that for the evening.
Dundalk collected the SSE Airtricity Premier Division trophy on the night, and huge celebrations followed. But for Rovers it was a different story.
Their final game of the season takes place this Friday at home to Shamrock Rovers.
Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Sean Hoare, Dean Jarvis; Chris Shields (Dane Massey 77), Patrick McEleney; John Mountney (Dylan Connolly 46), Ronan Murray (Jamie McGrath 63), Michael Duffy; Patrick Hoban.
Sligo Rovers: Edward McGinty; Kyle McFadden, John Mahon, Seamus Sharkey, Adam Wixted (Niall Morahan 46); Liam Kerrigan (Darren Collins 74), Lee-J Lynch, Jack Keaney (Lewis Morrison 65), Rhys McCabe, Kris Twardek; Michael Drennan.
Referee: Rob Rogers.